Tonik, the first pure-play digital bank in Southeast Asia, will debut in the Philippines in 2020.
Tonik Digital Bank has received a banking license from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippines' monetary authority, the bank announced in a statement on its blog on Thursday.
This would allow Tonik to provide a full range of retail banking services, focused primarily on retail deposits and consumer loans, through its digital-only platform, which will be launched in 2020, the statement said.
The bank said it is «on a mission to revolutionize the way money works in Southeast Asia.» It provides retail financial products, including deposits, loans, current accounts, payments, and cards on its digital banking platform.
Digital Disruption
Tonik said the banking market in the Philippines is «ripe for disruption,» highlighting opportunities in the $140 billion retail deposit market and a $100 billion unsecured consumer lending, and the country's world-leading internet and social media use.
Additionally, Tonik noted that 70 percent of adults in the Philippines are unbanked, while over half of existing bank clients would switch their deposits to a pure-play digital contender, citing market research. Two virtual banks – CIMB Bank and ING Bank – currently operate in the country.
«Digital-only banks globally have successfully demonstrated their ability to take massive market share by launching hyper-compelling consumer propositions, while also operating at disruptively low unit costs, and thus generating outstanding Returns on Assets and Equity,» said CEO and founder Greg Krasnov, who previously co-founded fintech startups in Asia, including CredoLab, AsiaCollect, AsiaKredit, and SolarHome.
